Check out information about the Ruhr Industrial Zone in Germany, and talk about its development experience that can be used as a reference for Northeast my country.

1. Natural resources and industrial development of the Ruhr Area

The Ruhr Area is one of the largest industrial areas in the world. The Ruhr Area is located in the central part of North Rhine-Westphalia (North Rhine-Westphalia), the most economically developed state in Germany. It is one of the five districts of North Rhine-Westphalia and includes 11 counties and cities, including Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg and other well-known industrial cities. The Ruhr area has the world's largest inland port, busy inland waterways and Europe's densest railway network, with highways extending in all directions.

After World War II, the Ruhr region’s coal production accounted for approximately 90% of the total coal production in western Germany, and its steel production accounted for 70% of the total in western Germany. The Ruhr area has concentrated steelmaking, steel rolling, ironmaking, oil refining, automobiles, shipbuilding, machinery and electrical equipment manufacturing plants. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, the cost of coal mining in the Ruhr area was much higher than that in the United States, China and Australia. Coupled with the application of petroleum and nuclear power, the demand for coal has decreased. In 1957, there were 141 coal mines in the Ruhr area, employing more than 500,000 miners. Since the 1960s, coal mining in the Ruhr area has declined year by year. Due to the development of technology, the steel, automobile, and shipbuilding industries require fewer people, steel production is transferred to subsidiaries outside Europe, and steel production also begins to shrink. Therefore, starting in the 1960s, the traditional coal industry and steel industry in the Ruhr area began to decline. Coal mines and steel plants closed one by one. In the late 1970s, the Ruhr area had entered a period of economic contraction.

2. Successful experience in the transformation of old industrial bases in the Ruhr District

(1) Based on traditional industries, enrich and adjust the regional industrial structure. The Ruhr Area is home to the headquarters of many large companies in Germany. The characteristics and development of the regional industrial structure are largely affected by the nature and changes in the industrial structure of large companies. As we all know, the coal and steel sectors have been the two pillars of the Ruhr Area's development for a long time. Therefore, the crisis in these two sectors will directly lead to the aging of the Ruhr Area's economic structure and make the Ruhr Area's economic development rate significantly faster. lower than the national average. Beginning in the 1960s, with state funding, the Ruhr Area first adopted a process of centralizing and rationalizing enterprises. Coal production is concentrated in seven large coal mines. The steel industry also carried out equipment updates and technological transformations during the same period. Close and merge old factories, expand new factories, make internal and external adjustments within the enterprise, and strengthen specialization and collaboration within and between enterprises. The federal and state governments and the Ruhr Area Coal Pipe Association are all trying to improve the investment environment in the Ruhr Area and encourage emerging industries to move to the Ruhr Area. Such enterprises have spread throughout the region, and most of them are small and medium-sized enterprises with sophisticated technology. Now, the Ruhr Area is developing towards a multi-sector comprehensive industrial zone with strong traditional industries as its foundation and growing emerging industries as its growth points.

(2) Reasonably adjust the productivity layout in the region. The early industrial layout of the Ruhr area was based on the principle of proximity to raw materials. In the regional master plan of the 1960s, the idea of ??dividing three different zones to balance the productivity distribution of the entire region was proposed, and it was stipulated that when deploying new enterprises, they should first consider arranging them in marginal development zones, while controlling Duisburg, Essen, etc. As big cities develop, factories are relocated from core areas to the outer edges in a planned manner. At the same time, traditional industries will be closed, suspended, merged, or transferred according to different situations.

The changes in the regional structure of the Ruhr area are also reflected in the functional evolution of its cities. The Ruhr area is a densely populated and urban area. The development of the city has gone through the development path of a single coal mining city - a steel city - a chemical city - a comprehensive city; urban planning has also evolved from the early chaotic and unplanned state to Comprehensive planned modern urban development. In the process of regional renewal, many cities have evolved from their original single functions into comprehensive cities with multiple functions. Among them, Essen, Dortmund and Duisburg have a population of more than 500,000, forming a polycentric Rhine-Russian city. Er urban agglomeration area, with a population of more than 10 million, is one of the major urban agglomeration areas in the world.

(3) Combining scientific research with practice to transform scientific and technological advantages into productivity. In the history of world science and technology, Germany's industrial technology plays an important role, and the Ruhr Area is the birthplace of many German technological inventions, so it has a very strong scientific research foundation. Facing the new situation, the Ruhr Area has taken the following measures: first, reform and innovation, strengthen cooperation between the scientific research community and the economic community, and connect the economic center and scientific research center in the region to accelerate the application of scientific research results.

Secondly, by reforming traditional education, creating new disciplines, and integrating higher education with regional economic development, the state government is trying to build the Ruhr area into a "European higher education campus." While developing new technologies, the comprehensive transformation of traditional industries, such as the establishment of information centers for scientific and technological innovation, government assistance to enterprises, and optimization of technology transfer to small and medium-sized enterprises, have greatly accelerated the pace of transforming scientific research results into productivity.

(4) Develop traditional industrial resources and expand new functions of regional industries. In the process of counter-industrialization, the Ruhr area began to think about the development and utilization of its accumulated regional resources, paying special attention to the development of industrial heritage tourism resources. Drawing on the experience of the United Kingdom, Sweden and other countries, the Ruhr Area proposed the "IBA" plan in 1989. After 10 years of exploration, it has gone through a model from independent development of sporadic attractions to regional unified development. Industrial tourism Has become the new fashion in the Ruhr area. From the perspective of attraction development models, there are roughly four specific models: (1) Museum development model. (2) Leisure and landscape park development model. (3) Development model combining shopping and tourism. (4) Transform traditional industrial zones into modern science parks, industrial and commercial development parks, and service industry parks. In 1998, the regional planning agency developed a regional tourist route connecting tourist attractions throughout the region. This route, known as the "Industrial Heritage Road", covers almost the entire Ruhr area.

(5) Improve environmental management and suggestions, and reshape the pastoral urban scenery. For a long time. Enterprises in the Ruhr area are fragmented and have serious public hazards. Environmental pollution is greater than anywhere else in the country. In order to eradicate public hazards and control environmental pollution, the state government invested in the establishment of environmental protection agencies, promulgated environmental protection laws and unified planning. The first action is to transform the river. A complete water supply system has been established and a microbial water purification station has been set up. In addition, automatic chimney alarm systems have been built throughout the district, allowing air pollution to be effectively controlled. Plans to create "green spaces" were formulated in the regional master plan, and large-scale afforestation was carried out. Now, North Rhine-Westphalia, where the Ruhr area is located, has more than 1,600 environmental protection companies and has become Europe's leading environmental protection technology center.

In short, after the above-mentioned adjustments and transformations, the Ruhr Area is far from a declining industrial area. On the contrary, it has maintained the momentum of continued development. The region's GDP accounts for about 7% of the GDP of the former Federal Republic of Germany. Equivalent to the GDP of Portugal or Denmark. The experience of regional remediation in the Ruhr District shows that only by constantly innovating, advancing with the times, and complying with the development trend of the times can the transformation and construction of traditional industrial areas be full of vitality and embark on the road to revitalization.

3. How to learn from the successful experience of the Ruhr area to transform the old industrial base in Northeast China

The Ruhr Industrial Zone in Germany and the old industrial base in Northeast China have great differences in natural resources, industrial development, and their own nationals. There are many similarities and greater comparability in terms of their position in the economy and the motivations for industrial structure adjustment and transformation. The reborn Ruhr industrial base plays a pivotal role in the industrial structure and economic development of Germany and even Europe as a whole. The successful experience of innovation and sustainable development in the Ruhr region provides a vivid example for the revitalization of the old industrial base in Northeast my country. The author believes that the successful experience of the Ruhr area should be learned from the following aspects at present in order to fundamentally revitalize the economy of the Northeast region.

(1) Establish an adjustment and transformation steering committee. Since the adjustment and reconstruction of old industrial bases has always been a comprehensive management project, involving many departments and regional interests, in order to coordinate the interests of all parties, we should learn from the governance experience of the Ruhr area in Germany, and the National Development and Reform Commission, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Labor and The Ministry of Social Security and other relevant departments have jointly established the National Steering Committee for the Adjustment and Reconstruction of Old Industrial Bases, which is responsible for the formulation and implementation of the adjustment and reconstruction plan for old industrial bases, inter-departmental coordination, fund management and effect evaluation. (Original author: Fu Tianhai) (2) Highlight the key points of adjustment and transformation ideas. Judging from the experience of the Ruhr area, the key to the adjustment and transformation of old industrial bases is the revitalization of the regional economy, not the solution of corporate difficulties. Because only when the regional economy is revitalized and industrial competitiveness is continuously improved can more job opportunities be created. In the future, the adjustment and transformation of old industrial bases should take institutional innovation, mechanism innovation, and technological innovation as the breakthrough point, and comprehensively revitalize the regional economy as the goal, focusing on expanding employment, adjusting structure, and improving industrial competitiveness.

(3) Implement a grant policy for the exit of declining enterprises. Implementing assistance policies for the exit of declining enterprises is a common practice of some developed countries.

In the 1960s, the Federal Republic of Germany adopted a series of industrial professional transfer assistance policies in response to the declining trend of the Ruhr area, putting it on the road to diversifying its industrial structure. Currently, the city is considering implementing two types of assistance policies: First, it implements assistance policies for the exit of declining resource-based industries such as coal, forestry, and non-ferrous metals, focusing on assistance to mine closures due to resource depletion and related industries. The second is to implement assistance policies for the withdrawal of state-owned enterprises that lack competitive advantages, suffer long-term losses, and are insolvent.

(4) Implement employment policy transfer with state support. It is recommended that the country gradually expand the scope of resource-based urban economic transformation pilot cities on the basis of summarizing the experience of Fuxin, Liaoning. The state should encourage these cities to cultivate and promote the gradual transfer of employment from resource-depleting or declining industries to emerging industries. In this regard, the central government should consider providing certain financial subsidies and provide policy support such as tax exemptions, low interest or subsidized credit, and accelerated depreciation. . Stimulate the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, private enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises. Establish a reemployment training system for laid-off workers to create conditions for employment transfer.

(5) Support the development of equipment manufacturing industry in the old industrial base. The Northeast region has great advantages in major equipment manufacturing and parts industries such as machine tools, aviation, automobiles, shipbuilding, and power generation equipment, and has the conditions to build an important base for my country's equipment manufacturing industry. The state gives more opportunities to old industrial bases in terms of government procurement, buyer's credit, seller's credit, and bidding. In terms of major equipment localization projects and high-tech industrialization projects, in accordance with the principle of "equal priority, appropriate relaxation", technological innovation and professional division of labor will gradually develop in the direction of industrial clusters, forming complete industrial supporting conditions and industrial chains. system.

The decline of the Ruhr area in Germany sounded the alarm for the long-term stagnant Northeast economy, and the industrial adjustment and vigorous rise of the Ruhr area after learning from the pain also brought about the revitalization and transformation of the old industrial base in the Northeast. A lot of enlightenment came. I believe that with effective policy support and correct ideological guidance, through the large-scale development strategy, mobilizing external forces and tapping the Northeast's own potential, it is entirely possible for the Northeast to initially establish and form a relatively complete state in the next 5-10 years. The market economic system has completed the development of industries with industrial upgrading and transformation, industrial structure adjustment and the cultivation of emerging industries as the main industry. This will lead to the basic solution of problems such as the transformation of old industrial bases in the Northeast, the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, and the adjustment of the agricultural industry structure, and promote the Northeast economy. Entering into a virtuous circle of rapid development.